Perth’s Scottish Communications Group has developed an ID badge which doubles as a high definition personal CCTV camera.

The ‘My Witness’ video badge looks like a regular ID badge as worn by council or NHS staff.

But if the wearer is threatened or comes into danger, a quick flick of the badge reveals a video camera which automatically starts recording the incident.

The device weighs only 130 grams and can record up to ten hours of footage which can be downloaded to provide a record of events.

I can't quite fathom this scheme. There is a very good reason that serious legal questions surround the legality of hidden cameras. What if one of these wearers gave their badge a 'quick flick' when in the toilets? This is, remember, being proposed for NHS staff who will often see patients in vulnerable situations.

This report, and the original idea, suffer from the mass delusion that having a camera makes you safer – when all the evidence suggests otherwise.

At Big Brother Watch we are opposed to any increase in surveillance; this is worse, this is an increase in covert surveillance, for which there is no accountability and no firm rules.

6 Comments

Bob

Nobby

Redacted

5th July 2010

I can see why some poeple might want these, though such a thing is surely only useful for evidence after an event and isn’t very likely to give pause to a nutter with a kitchen knife, for instance, or a vicious dog.
We can be sure that once these are “accepted” in high risk situations, their use will be extended, and extended again until we get to the point where nobody dares to go anywhere without shooting a video of it.
Won’t they really need a backwards facing camera as well, in case a tiger sneaks up on them?
Video me, video you. What a lot of glamorous movie stars we are! You’d think we were all celebs! But some people prefer to be the director of course, rather than the star.
Naturally, anyone who raises an objection will be accused of all the standard things.

Purlieu

NeverSurrender

6th July 2010

This is just like sending a pervert to heaven and consigning the patient’s privacy to hell. For every case of the abuse of surveillance that comes to light there must be hundreds or thousands that go undetected. No one can be trusted as long as it is legal use devices like these and to film or photograph people without their consent.